132 & 156, excl. var. f3. — Johnston's FI. of Benv. v. i. p. 177. — Winch’s FI. of 
N'orthuinb. and Durb. p. 52, excl. var. 0. — Walker’s FI. of Oxf. p. 228. — Ball. F). 
Bath. p. 27. — Dick. FI. Abred. p. 50. — Xrv. Lend. Fl. p. 147. — Luxf. Rcig. FI. p. 
69, a. — Cow. Fl. Guide, p. 22. — Mack. Catal. PI. of Irel. p. 71. ; Fl. Hib. p. 156, 
excl. var. 0 . — Arctium major, Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 435. — Lappa ylubra, 
Lind. Syn. p. 154. — Maer. Man. Brit. Bot. p. 139. — Lappa major Arcium Dios- 
coridis, Hay’s Syn. p. 197.' — Bardana major, Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 809. 
Localities. — I n waste places, and by road-sides ; common. 
Biennial. — Flowers in July and August. 
Root tapering, fleshy, blackish on the outside, whitish within, 
penetrating deeply into the earth, and sending off many slender 
fibres. Stem upright, 3 feet or more high, solid, round, furrowed, 
leafy, much branched. Leaves very large, on footstalks, alternate, 
heart-shaped, blunt, veiny ; whitish and hoary underneath, 3-ribbed 
at the base, and somewhat waved and notched at the margin. 
Flowers small, purple. Involucrum globular, nearly smooth, each 
of the scales ending in a fine hooked spine, which takes firm hold of 
the coats of animals, a person’s dress, &c. Florets funnel-shaped, 
with a long thread-shaped tube. Anthers purple or violet-coloured, 
projecting beyond the florets. Style white, with expanding stigmas. 
Seeds oblong, angular, rather flattened, their surface somewhat re- 
ticulated. The leaves are larger than those of any other British 
plant, except the Batter-bur (see folio 139). 
The Burdock is capable of being applied to many uses ; the roots 
and stalks are esculent and nutritive : the stalks, for this purpose, 
should be cut before the plant flowers, the rind peeled off, and then 
boiled and served up in the manner of asparagus, or eaten raw as 
a salad, with oil and vinegar. A decoction of the roots is esteemed 
by some very skilful physicians equal, if not superior, to that of 
sarsaparilla, in rheumatic affections. It has also been given in 
dropsical cases with success, where other powerful medicines had 
been ineffectually used. The decoction should be made by boiling 
two ounces of the fresh root in three pints of water to two, which, 
when intended for dropsical cases, should be taken in the course of 
two days, or if possible in twenty-four hours. The seeds are also 
recommended as very efficacious in the same complaint, given either 
in the form of emulsion, or in powder, to the quantity of a drachm. 
According to the observations of Linnjeus, cows and goats eat 
this plant ; sheep and horses refuse it ; and swine are not fond of 
it. Phalana Humuli feeds upon the roots, and the Mottled Orange 
Moth upon the stems, within which the chrysalis may be found 
about the month of August, especially in stunted specimens. 
Boys catch bats, by throwing the prickly heads into the air. The 
hooked points of the scales of the heads tend to the dispersion of 
the seeds, by adhering to the coats of animals, &c. ; a circumstance 
from which the word Lappa is supposed to be derived. See 
Woodville, Withering, &c. 
A very minute fungus, Erysiphe Arelii, Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 460, 
is not uncommon on the under side of the leaves of this plant and 
A. Bardana, about Oxford, in the Autumn. 
